Editing Umberto Eco (section)

=== Early writings on semiotics and popular culture (1961–1964) ===
Among his work for a general audience, in 1961 Eco's short essay "Phenomenology of [[Mike Bongiorno]]", a critical analysis of a popular but unrefined quiz show host, appeared as part of a series of articles by Eco on mass media published in the magazine of the tyre manufacturer [[Pirelli]]. In it, Eco observed that "[Bongiorno] does not provoke inferiority complexes, despite presenting himself as an idol, and the public acknowledge him, by being grateful to him and loving him. He represents an ideal that nobody need strive to reach because everyone is already at his level."  Receiving notoriety among the general public thanks to widespread media coverage, the essay was later included in the collection ''Diario minimo'' (1963).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Umberto Eco and Pirelli: mass culture and corporate culture – Rivista Pirelli|url=https://www.rivistapirelli.org/en/umberto-eco-and-pirelli-mass-culture-and-corporate-culture/|access-date=19 August 2020|language=en-US|archive-date=14 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814231154/https://www.rivistapirelli.org/en/umberto-eco-and-pirelli-mass-culture-and-corporate-culture/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Lee|first=Alexander|title=The Phenomenology of Donald Trump {{!}} History Today|url=https://www.historytoday.com/phenomenology-donald-trump|access-date=19 August 2020|website=www.historytoday.com|archive-date=24 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924232834/https://www.historytoday.com/phenomenology-donald-trump|url-status=live}}</ref>

Over this period, Eco began seriously developing his ideas on the "open" text and on semiotics, writing many essays on these subjects. In 1962 he published ''Opera aperta'' (translated into English as "The Open Work"). In it, Eco argued that literary texts are fields of meaning, rather than strings of meaning; and that they are understood as open, internally dynamic and psychologically engaged fields. Literature which limits one's potential understanding to a single, unequivocal line, the ''closed text'', remains the least rewarding, while texts which are the most active between mind, society and life (open texts) are the liveliest and best—although valuation terminology was not his primary focus. Eco came to these positions through the study of language and from semiotics, rather than from psychology or [[historical analysis]] (as did theorists such as [[Wolfgang Iser]], on the one hand, and [[Hans Robert Jauss]], on the other).

In his 1964 book ''Apocalittici e integrati'', ''Apolitical and Integrated'', Eco continued his exploration of popular culture, analyzing the phenomenon of [[mass communication]] from a [[sociology|sociological]] perspective.